FYI, a patch came out for D2 a few years ago that allowed for a free character respec. I believe there was also a way to get another one, via some items.

I do not own a cell/mobile phone nor have I ever owned one in the past.

Why?
At first, it was because it was not that useful to me due to coverage issues and it is not required for my job, so why waste the money.
Then, it became that I could not afford it due to saving up for a house. It's easy to do without when you have never had. 6 years of savings on phone plans and fees may not be much, but it is still something. (2 phones)
Then, it became that I could not afford it due to having a mortgage.
Now, it is because that I am saving up for a house. (I was forced to sell.)

How?
Well, I get my land-line in the bundle from the cable company. That thing rings more than I care to answer it.
I generally prefer to Skype with video.
On the few occasions where I had car trouble, I was able to use free phones and services to get assistance.
The situations that occur the most where I go "If only I had a cell/mobile" are those rare instances where you have a plan for doing something and then something happens that causes you to change those plans and now you have no way of notifying the other people in the plan because either they and or you don't have a cell/mobile. That and double checking the grocery list.

And for the most controversial statement: Cells/Mobiles are not a necessity. The vast majority of that communication can just wait, as long as your work does not depend upon a cell/mobile leash. You really don't _NEED_ to talk on the phone while driving home, or in the checkout lane at the Wal-Mart, or at the restaurant with friends/family. You _WANT_ to, but you don't _NEED_ to.

"Given our current technology and potential near-future technology, what would a future space battlefield look like?"

Given Current Tech Available:
Machine Guns, Guided Torpedoes w/ HE or Nuclear warheads, primitive rail-guns, primitive heat lasers, ground to low earth orbit booster rockets, small space shuttle, Soyuz capsules, communication satellites, ground observation and control, remote drones, micro-satellites, primitive Project Thor, IIS

Current Space Battle:
          The goal would be to control cis-lunar space (between Moon and Earth) and would be the first battlefield of WWIII. (I can't see a scenario where the whole world puts up with someone trying to grab space for themselves.) Mostly orbital combat, with possible sub-orbital pop-up strikes. Booster rockets would launch guided torpedoes with High Explosive fragmentation warheads (steel clouds of death) at enemy targets (likely fragile communications/spy satellites) and disable them without needing a direct hit. The ISS would be turned to swiss cheese. Low Earth Orbit's space junk problem will become exponentially worse. Combat Shuttles could launch, but they would be sub-orbital or perhaps one orbit at most. The counter move to maintain a satellite presence would be to use micro-satellites to replace one large one with many "disposable" ones. All the while a crazy Electronic Counter-Measure war is going on in space to deny communications entirely and would not discriminate between military and consumer channels. Forget calling across an ocean as the world will have to fall back on copper wire or glass fiber. Eventually, it spills-over to Earth conventional war or even Global Thermonuclear War. The winner, if any at all, will be decided on the ground. The space war's most important impact will be that if one side actually does achieve cis-lunar space-superiority, the loser will be somewhat blinded and may be scared enough to start lobbing nuclear weapons around out of fear of the winner's ability to set up a Project Thor and bomb with impunity. I don't see people in space fighting it out in capsules or shuttles as they may not survive launch and re-entry without actually going into a battle.

Near Future Tech:
Machine Guns turrets, Guided Torpedoes w/ HE or Nuclear warheads, primitive rail-guns, primitive heat lasers, ground to low earth orbit booster rockets, small space shuttle, Soyuz capsules, communication satellites, ground observation and control, remote drones, micro-satellites, primitive Project Thor, IIS, Moon Base, Space Station at Lunar L1, L2, L3, L4, L5, Space Marines in primitive Power Armor, Lunar Tanks, fighting robots, Lunar artillery.

Near Future Space Combat:
The goal would be to control Earth Orbit, The Moon, and Lunar L1 through L5 and would be the prelude to Solar War I. Not sure that it will contain Global Thermonuclear War as I assume it will take global cooperation to get this far. Perhaps a limited exchange if it were a few nations making a power grab. Given the issues with radiation and micro-meteorites at the Lagrangian points, the stations would naturally be well shielded against fragmentation warheads. The stations themselves would likely be prized possessions. (if not, they get nuked using large booster delivered warheads from Earth) The Lunar Colonies would also be prized, so I would assume that nuking them would be a last-gasp "FU" from the losing side. There could be small fleets of space shuttle like warships that have machine guns or auto cannons for primary attack with the ability to carry a limited number of small guided torpedoes with frag/HE/nuke warheads. I would imagine that these craft would be well heat shielded for earth re-entry so heat lasers would have little to no effect on them. Battles between fleets would be long looping orbits with combatants sending fire at close approach moments possibly days apart in low earth/lunar orbit and even weeks apart if in high slow transitional orbits. Machine gun turret fire could be used as a point-defense against torpedoes if detected in time. Shuttles could then dock at a Space Station or possibly enter from a breach and start to fight it out corridor to corridor on the station. Or they could blockade the station.
Lunar surface warfare with Space Marines could be pretty intense as I imagine it would be the only way to crack into an enemy colony, assuming direct drop-ship approach is defended against with guided torpedoes and machine gun turrets. There would be Lunar Tanks, supporting robots (likely rover type deals with weapons), artillery fire support, drop ships, forward bases, entrenchment, support from Shuttle strikes away from colony defenses. The Marines fight their way next to the colony, likely on top of it as it should be mostly underground. Then breach the colony and begin the invasion. They would have to stay in the suits as the first defense would be to retreat and depressurize the surrounding tunnels. If successful, they would slug it out tunnel by tunnel. I imagine you could lay siege to the colony, but I would have to think that it would be somewhat self sufficient for at least O2 and Food. Perhaps starving the colony of solar energy from the surface and denying resupply from orbit could work in time as they use up consumables.

Brawndo! The Thirst Mutilator!

I wonder what their Prime Radiant looks like.

The problems with the TV Networks "pitch zone" is that they are 2 dimensional, do not change for each batter, and the TV viewer has trouble seeing the true motion of the pitch. The strike zone covers all of home plate, including depth. Many pitchers use "back door" breaking balls/sliders to try and hit the very back side of the strike zone. In the "pitch zone" these would look like a ball, when in fact it crossed the plate in the zone. Also, the strike zone changes height for each batter as defined in the rules as the batter waits for the pitch. These "pitch zone" displays never do. Lastly, pitch movement is hard to pick up on television, especially when depth is involved. Pitches can curve around the strike zone and appear to be strikes as well as curve into the back of the strike zone. It is hard to tell from a single camera.

Mozy & Carbonite offer unlimited backups for about $60 per year. If your parents are willing to pick up the tab, go for it.

Personally, I do this:
- mirrored data drive stores pictures and video. Happens automatically.
- 2 external HDs gets copies of data drive. Manually cold mirror via SyncToy a few times a month.
- burn 3 copies of DVDs of new files, keep one, send other two to parents and in-laws. I may do this once or twice a year. It is manual and does consume some time, but for the cost of a few DVD RWs, envelopes, and two postage stamps I get off-site backups. Oh, and they'll likely load them on their PC, so that's another backup copy.

It probably costs me more than $60 per year, but I prefer to do things like this myself.

While I too have also not read it, however I can easily understand how any differing view of events can look like it came from a "Propoganda Department". There is always more than one side to any story. Self Defense from one view may appear to be Murder from another.

Going all the way back to the Music of the Ainur, Melkor had just as much right as any of the Valar as to what was to become of Middle-Earth and the peoples within it. Manwë and the others formed a clique about what the Vision of Ilúvatar should be like and left Melkor out. Basically, Melkor was the geek outcast to the popular Valar. Melkor was the smartest of the bunch, "the nerd". The popular crowd even sent their "jock", Tulkas, to go beat up Melkor and stuff him in a locker. Go read The Silmarillion for yourself. It's all there.

The whole War of Wrath, and everything else, was probably started when Melkor made some really creative thing and the others were jealous and then ruined it. Why? Because they didn't approve. Who are they? Nobody special. They were all essentially equal with no one really having a real claim over another. But they chose to gang up on him because he was different. Melkor's idea of beauty didn't fit in with theirs, so they went about ridiculing and undermining all that he tried to do. Push came to shove, and next thing you know the Valar ganged up on Melkor. Melkor sees that he'll never get his own way with anything as long as the popular Valar gang is keeping him down. So he decided to wreck what they are trying to do. It's not "evil", it's JUSTICE! Melkor's responding in kind. And he's very good at it 'cause he's smarter than all of them. Melkor is the geek. Along the way he starts to gather his own clique of outcasts from the Valar gang, one of which is Sauron. Obviously, the Valar gang stepped on a lot of toes with their "Holier than Thou" attitude. They even started using derogatory nick-names to reference him, like Morgoth. See that? He's geeky AND goth and they make fun of him 'cause he's different.

But, you can't fight the popular clique. Principal Ilúvatar is always going to side with them. Eventually the Valar brats gets Melkor expelled from Middle-Earth High. Sure, Melkor probably went too far here and there, but if the Valar brats did to you what they did to Melkor...you'd be fighting right along side him. All because the Valar brats thinks that technology and industry, and the Vo-Tech kids in general, are stupid and ugly. Melkor's best friend, Sauron, swears that he'll do what he can to make them pay for it, but it is to no avail. They get him expelled too.

The Rings of Power. That was Sauron's last ditch effort to show the rest of Middle-Earth how the wool was pulled over their eyes by the Valar. The Rings of Power didn't brainwash anyone. Sauron just showed them the kind of life they could be living if not for the Valar keeping them down. There were all kinds of technological cool stuff that they could be using to improve their lives. The Rings alone gave them superpowers. IMMORTALITY! Sauron basically said to The Nine, "look at all this cool technology you could you could be using. The Valar have been keeping it from you only because they are technophobes. Isn't that stupid?!" And The Nine were like "This stuff is AWESOME! You're totally freakin' right! How have I been living without these things?? Sign me up." (it was probably similar to when you got your first smart-phone) I'm sure Sauron was proably workin' on some steampunk tech too before the end. Just take a look at Grond.

You see, it's not that Melkor was Right or Wrong. He was DIFFERENT. That's all. But the Valar didn't like that, not one bit. So they went about humiliating him and destroying him and all his friends. Does that sound "Right" to you?

Have my cable modem, firewall/router, tower, and monitor all on UPS backup and have confirmed during a power outage that I am able to surf the internet. I had no expectations of being able to do so on a residential cable plan, so I was a bit surprised.

IANAL, However it seems that a good portion of Title 18 Chapter 37 ESPIONAGE AND CENSORSHIP pertain to him.

# 793. Gathering, transmitting or losing defense information (Gathering, yes. Transmitting, maybe)
# 794. Gathering or delivering defense information to aid foreign government (maybe)
# 795. Photographing and sketching defense installations (maybe)
# 796. Use of aircraft for photographing defense installations (probably not)
# 797. Publication and sale of photographs of defense installations (maybe)
# 798. Disclosure of classified information (Yes. "or publishing")

For more info, try here:
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/uscode18/usc_sup_01_18_10_I_20_37.html

Remember, they don't have to be content with what was just leaked recently. The DoJ can go back in time and drag out everything that they can prove was _EVER_ leaked on his site and use it to convict him of ESPIONAGE. If he's extradited, he's screwed.

Regular DII player here. The one patch also allowed you to go CD free by copying some files from the original and expansion discs.

However, I do not believe you get a respec until you complete the Den of Evil quest on Hell difficulty. There is apparently some charm or cube recipe or some such that allows you to get another respec chance if you wish.

DII was, and still is, a great game.

It's been done already.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MQ7N6V-YKJ8&feature=related

I was thinking the same myself.

Additionally, as someone that must remember crazy long passwords, I can offer some hope. The human brain is totally capable of memorizing multiple long random character strings. Yes at first it was hard, but after a week or so they were as easy to remember as any other. They just took longer to type and were more prone to typos. Also, I knew a guy that memorized a license key number, something towards 128 characters. The brain is an amazing tool.

Some advice for the password-challenged _HOME_ user:
- Keep a password list, but not on your computer. Write them down on paper and put it somewhere safe from damage and misplacement. This allows you to use stronger passwords and acts as a backup if your computer dies. Only write down enough information as needed so that if someone were to see it they still didn't have enough info to abuse it. More on this later.
- Increase complexity for anything banking or credit related. It's OK to have short ones for Facebook and Twitter. But your money should be guarded as best as you can.
- When creating answers for those "Security Questions" either pick questions for which only you would know the answer to OR give false answers to common questions and write them down. I hate that most answers to those questions can be found in a few quick searches on that person and some educated guessing.
- Many programs and websites accept spaces, " ", as special characters. This allows a transition from difficult passwords to easily remembered pass phrases or sentences.

A few words on complex password creation and storage:
1) If you want a challenge, make them all random and unique. There are several on-line random generators out there. Generate a hundred or so and pick one for each. In time, you won't even need the list. Yes, you can do it.

2a) If you just want something that works, try this:
- go to a generator and get a hundred or so that are 10 characters long, then pick the first one that looks like you could remember it. This will be your core. Over time this will be memorized since you will be using it everywhere.
- Create a method to generate a prefix and/or suffix that is site dependent. They could be initials for the site, a few characters for incrementing at sites that force changes, an easily remembers old password, etc... use your imagination and make them easy to re-figure-out if needed. From that, you can now have separate and secure passwords for all your sites, where your passwords would look something like (prefix)(core)(suffix) and be anywhere from 12 to 20+ characters long with little memorization. The memorization being the core and the method used to create the prefix or suffix.

2b)If you want easy and the site accepts spaces, just come up with a pass phrase and sentence. Example: "You can't handle the truth!1!" or "1 of these days, Bang! Zoom!"

3) Write it down, but leave out the things you have memorized. This way, even if stolen this list won't do them any good.
- For example, don't name the website, just what it is you do there. Instead of Facebook, write chat with Jenny.
- If you know your your prefix and your core, just write down the suffix. Instead of FooBar001, where you know the prefix Foo and the core Bar, just write down 001. Your password list will say "Chat with Jenny 001" and you'll know what it means, but no one else will.

My guess is: Hybrid Aircars in about 15-20 years.
Think: Winnebago's of the sky. (No, not like in Spaceballs)
Basically, a cross between an airship and airplane. It's almost lighter than air. There are several designs out there already. Short take off and landing, possible vertical take-off and landing depending on design. Helium or Hydrogen does the bulk of the lifting. Only a small thruster or airfoil is required to make it fly. Engine failure results in a glide back to the ground. Designs with full body aerodynamic lift can accommodate several rooms and a control room. I saw one that had a kitchen.

The downside is that they are big, relatively slow, and fair weather only.

The RFID systems I have seen in the field are poorly implemented. Most were thick, think 9v battery, tags that were either attached via zip ties or velcro. Even if it was securely attached, most were attached to removable face plates, while others were attached to the rear and would actually prevent you from pulling out the server and/or damage the cabling if you did, as it tended to hang down and catch on stuff. (snap off fibers, pull out power cords, etc.) They offered no assurance that that piece of equipment was in the room since they could easily be separated from the tag. Even with this system, you'll still need people to visually verify it anyway.

How often do you actually lose a piece of hardware? This is a solution to a problem that does not exist.

Barcode or your own SN sticker followed up by visual inspections is cheaper, safer, and more reliable compared to the RFID solutions I have seen out there.